Giving UK cities more powers and financial autonomy could boost the economy by up to £79bn a year, the independent City Growth Commission has found.
Chief secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, has signalled his willingness to devolve a raft of property taxes to London – it has emerged.
‘Perverse’ new rules easing the conversion of offices and shops into homes are destroying jobs and are a ‘bad example’ of central government control over planning, business secretary Vince Cable has said.
New homes should be built on golf courses in an attempt to solve the housing crisis, Vince Cable has suggested.
Business secretary Vince Cable has criticised planning reforms introduced by his own government as perverse because of their effect on employment space.
The majority of additional borrowing capacity made available to town halls to fund the building of new council homes remains untouched, the communities minister has revealed.
Speaking at a Localis fringe event at the Liberal Democrat Party Conference, Vince Cable said families in Surrey would rather have homes than golf courses.
Localis were at all three major party conferences, featuring events with Secretaries of State, Ministers and Shadow Ministers
In his monthly column in The MJ, Localis chief executive Alex Thomson discusses Localis’ conference season goings-on and the cross-party support for devolution in the UK.
Vince Cable has called for a fresh wave of housing to be built on green belt land to solve Britain’s housing shortage – noting that new developments are being focused on the south-east because “people are not flocking to Burnley”.